Hydrothermal fabrication of lead hydroxide chloride as a novel anode material for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

In this paper, a novel lithium storage materials PbOHCl was prepared by a hydrothermal method by using Pb(NO3)2, NaCl and NH3·H2O as the starting materials. The resulting PbOHCl powers are micro-structured irregular particles with the sizes in the range of 0.1–2.0μm. The space group of PbOHCl is Pnam with the lattice parameters of a=7.107, b=9.712 and c=4.057Å. Electrochemical results and ex situ physical characterization techniques show that the reactions of PbOHCl with Li are associated with the formation of LiyPb (0≤y≤4.4), LiOH and LiCl. In the reverse process, the charged products are Pb(OH)2 and PbCl2. Charge/discharge results show that the discharge and charge capacities of PbOHCl are 1340 and 755mAhg−1, respectively. It suggests that PbOHCl may be a promising high capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries. After 20 cycles, a reversible capacity of 329mAhg−1 can be delivered. The capacity retention is approximate 43.5%. To improve the cycling properties, the low cutoff potential is increased to 0.3V for suppressing the particle pulverization during repeated cycles. However, the electrochemical results cannot reach the expected standards in the potential range of 0.3–3.0V. Impedance analysis shows that the charge-transfer and electrolyte resistances of PbOHCl electrode increase not only during the initial charge/discharge process but also during the subsequent repeated cycles.